13 night Alaska pre tour Sep 26 Excursion Ideas

[GDTraveler1986]

Hi there, we are going on a 13 night pre tour Alaska cruise in September 2026 and just looking for recommendations for excursion ideas on land and during cruise. 
Specifically Talkneeta, Seward, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point. Thank you

[KJones]

Juneau: we rented a car to visit Mendenhall Glacier, Salmon Bake & downtown. Much cheaper (at least in 2022) than booking via RC or third-party.

Skagway: White Pass Train - we booked this through RC, it wasn't much more than booking direct. But if you book through RC you board the train right by the dock, rather than farther into town. We had someone with some mobility limitation so definitely worth the few extra dollars for us.

Icy Strait: whale watch, booked through Hoonah travels

Seward: we only had a couple hours between our train arrival & embarkation. We used the free shuttle to get around town. I've read good things about the sea life center.

[Ryan79]

Juneau: Helicopter to a glacier hike is bucket list item worthy.

Skagway: White Pass Train, but in the VIP car. The main cars you will be in like cattle.

[melmar02]

We loved the land excursions we went on, and this is not meant to be negative. In no way am I saying don't do land excursions - we just weren't prepared for how tight the schedule already was with the land tour we selected and how the process actually worked which caused a lot of frustration for our family.

For the land portion, we were not aware that any land excursions offered are crammed into an already tight schedule, if there is a delay, you might miss your excursion. We thought we would have a few hours to leisurely unpack and have dinner before our excursion in Talkeetna. Man were we wrong! The guide running the land portion of our tour decided we needed to stop for a photo opp when we were already a little behind schedule. It took an hour to get everyone off the bus, corralled from wandering around, and then back onto the bus. Then there was an issue with our hotel reservation that night, so the bus parked on the side of the road while the guide was on the phone trying to resolve the problem.  We jumped off the bus when we finally made it to the hotel and ran to the meeting point - the excursion was getting in the van to leave as we showed up. We wound up at the hotel restaurant right before they closed at 10 or 11pm with very hungry kids. (Fortunately, the bar was still open for the adults too!) The next morning, our bus had a mechanical issue, and the entire tour group spent 4 hours in the hotel lobby waiting on the driver who was trying to repair it. They eventually sent a different bus for our group. If we had planned on one of the extra excursions that day, we would have never made it on time.

Also, not all excursions may be available. Even after we picked a couple from the list given to us by the guide at the day 1 meeting, she had to call in to make sure the excursion was running and there was availability. There was a fishing excursion in the literature we had before the cruise that we really wanted to do, and it wasn't even on the list.  

This was just our experience, and when we go back to Alaska, we plan to do a land tour again. We'll look at doing the extra excursions again too, but we'll definitely be more aware that we will probably feel rushed on those days and won't set our hearts on any one excursion ahead of time. 

[OCSC Mike]

3 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

Juneau: Helicopter to a glacier hike is bucket list item worthy.

We did this elsewhere but agree 100%.

Dogsledding up on a mountain glacier was another one for us (we did it in Skagway after weather cancelled our pre-cruise planned version in Girdwood).

I also would not skip Denali (though not mentioned by the OP).

Seward - Sea Life Center was cute & fun & my wife loved feeding puffins but the all day Kenai fjords tour was the highlight for us there. We enjoyed walking around the town too. Only fit all that in b/c we were there for 2 full days pre-cruise.

[rjac]

On 1/7/2025 at 8:58 AM, OCSC Mike said:

I also would not skip Denali (though not mentioned by the OP

Denali is a crap shoot. We did this two years ago and Denali was socked in with clouds. The guide told us that 70% of the time it has clouds and 30% it does not. We hit at the 70% time. Didn't see any wildlife either.